ST MIRREN chairman Stewart Gilmour last night explained why he sounded the death knell for the SPL’s flawed reconstruction plans.

The Saints will vote against the 12-12-18 set-up for senior football next season after slamming plans for a mid-season split and the desire to keep the 11-1 voting structure in the top flight.

Now, if Ross County stick to their guns and join Saints in voting against the plan next Monday at a meeting of the top 12 chairmen, the motion will fall and Scottish football will again be plunged into a state of crisis over the format of our top divisions.

On many counts we don’t believe that this plan serves the interest of us or the Scottish game well.

St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour

If the plan bites the dust, then a scramble from desperate First Division clubs to bring about SPL2 will be back on the agenda, which could lead to civil war among lower-league clubs.

But Gilmour reckons he had no option but to go against the plan. He said: “The board of St Mirren are sure of our stance. We have consulted a great deal with supporters, the coaching staff and they have all said the same thing.

“We don’t believe in maintaining the 11-1 voting structure and we don’t believe in the 8-8-8 split after 22 games.

“Every club has to look at this in terms of their own view and for the betterment of Scottish football.

“On many counts we don’t believe that this plan serves the interest of us or the Scottish game well.”

Saints would prefer a top league of 14 clubs – something endorsed by many fans who voted in an SFA survey into the state of the game, although the largest grouping, at 51 per cent, would prefer a 16-team SPL.

Out of a survey of 7,000 fans, 87 per cent of fans wanted an increase in the number of teams in the top league.

The heat will now be turned up on other SPL clubs to show their hands before the planned vote and also on SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster, who boasted of a united front when unveiling the plans earlier this year.

Should the SPL clubs fail to give the green light to the 12-12-18 plans next week, then there will be no need for an SFL vote on the motion.

SPL chiefs last night remained tight-lipped while SFL supremo David Longmuir declined to comment on the developments as he prepared for today’s board meeting, which has Dunfermline’s crisis at the top of the agenda.